


Being Part of the Team

by Dumb_Trash_Monster



Category: Parks and Recreation
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-28
Updated: 2020-12-28
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:34:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,701
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28393962
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dumb_Trash_Monster/pseuds/Dumb_Trash_Monster
Summary: After the third day of the Harvest Festival, the whole gang goes out. Leslie does something she never thought she would have to do. People talk to each other. End of summary.
Relationships: Leslie Knope/Ben Wyatt
Comments: 1
Kudos: 19





	Being Part of the Team

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you, Sarcastic_Soulmate, for being a great beta reader.

After a long day working at the Harvest Festival, Leslie sat in her car at a packed intersection. Ben was in the front seat, and Tom chattered endlessly to Ann in the back seat, much to the annoyance of Ron, who had found himself in the middle seat. Donna’s car was right in front of her, and although Leslie couldn’t see them, she knew that April, Andy, and Jerry were in there along with Donna. 

They were all arranged this way because they had all agreed to go out for pizza and drinks after the third day of the Harvest Festival, which also happened to be April and Andy’s two-and-a-half-week anniversary. The traffic also happened to be ridiculous because of people driving home from the festival.

The traffic gave Leslie nothing better to do than think. As she stared at the cloudy sunset, she realized something. “Hey Ben,” Leslie said during a short moment of silence, “Why don’t you have a Minnesotan accent?”

“Why doesn’t Al Franken have a Minnesotan accent?” he answered with a question.

“Because he was born in New York, Ben. You don’t have that excuse.” Leslie retorted. After Ben didn’t respond to that, Leslie continued, “You also don’t have an excuse for knowing less than me about one of your home state’s senators.”

“Hmm. I don’t know that I know less about him; I just didn’t consider that fact when I answered.”

“That’s still pretty embarrassing for you,” Leslie commented sarcastically.

“No. I’ll prove I know more. Lemme tell you a little something about Senator Alan Stuart Franken,” Ben said with a boastful smirk.

Leslie rolled her eyes. “Do tell.”

//

Tom paused pitching his idea for a glitter-filled IV bag to Ann to listen to the conversation going on in the front seat. Leslie and Ben were having a conversation about some nobody politician and acting like it was the most amusing thing in the world. They were both smiling way too much, punching each other’s arms, and giggling. Tom wanted to throw up right onto Ron’s lap.

Tom grimaced before turning to Ron. “Why is that how they flirt? It’s lame. Just flirt about normal things. Like hats. And nightclubs. And various body parts,” he whispered, winking as he said the last part.

“Stop breathing into my ear, son,” Ron responded quietly, but angrily.” Also, it’s not really any of your business.” 

After a long moment of silence, Ron decided to keep talking. “Although I do agree with your general disdain about their choice of topic. Not only a politician but a socialist politician who might as well be Lenin,” he said through gritted teeth. 

“John Lennon was a socialist?” Tom pondered.

At the sound of this question, Ann leaned over to glare at him with a puzzled, but annoyed face.

“What?” Tom inquired, not understanding Ann’s judgemental stare. “All I did was ask a question. Did you know John Lennon was a socialist?”

Neither Ann nor Ron decided to answer Tom’s question; Instead, Ann kept looking at Tom judgmentally while Ron stared at the floor. Tom took this as an opportunity to continue his pitch for the glitter-filled IV bag, which he was now calling “Sparkle Blood”, but that was just a working title.

After Tom had been talking about “Sparkle Blood” for what he considered a suitable amount of time, the car pulled into the parking lot of its destination.

“Thank God,” Ann groaned as she got out of the car. Tom and Ron followed suit, leaving Leslie and Ben babbling about something that would probably make Tom want to jump off a cliff.

//

Leslie was listening to Ben talking about some political documentary when he paused as if just realizing they had reached the restaurant. “Oh. We’re here,” he observed.

“Astute analysis,” Leslie quipped. “I was gonna wait for you to finish talking before I got out of the car.”

“How polite.”

They both got out of the car and walked into the restaurant, quickly finding the large table everyone else was sitting at. 

“So why don’t you have a Minnesotan accent?” Leslie inquired as she took a seat.

Ben sat in the last seat, which was between Leslie and Donna. “You already asked me this.”

“But you just started talking about Al Franken.”

“Fair enough.”

“So?”  
Ben sighed. “Not everyone has an accent from their home state. Certain cities and regions have more of an accent than others. You don’t have an Indiana accent.”

“Because that doesn’t exist,”

“Some people here just have a plain American accent, some have like a southern or country one.”

“But there’s not an Indiana accent. Therefore Indiana is better than Minnesota,” Leslie declared.

“Woah woah woah. Let’s not get crazy. There’s a lot of ways you could compare the states. Although, in general, I will say I prefer Indiana because no town here has ever impeached me,” Ben responded.

“That’s just because no town here has ever elected you.”

“That’s very harsh, Leslie,” Ben said with mock-offense. “I’m making you get a calzone because of that. You can think of it as an apology.”

“You can’t make me do anything, especially that.”

“Actually, that’s not entirely true. I do control the budget, so that affects what you do, therefore I can make you do things. Also, you owe me one.”

“For what?”

“For approving the harvest festival. I could have fired you all. Technically I still could,” Ben answered as he innocently raised his eyebrows.

“It sounds to me like you’re leveraging your power as an auditor to get me to eat a calzone,” Leslie reckoned.

“Oh I absolutely am,” Ben confirmed with a grin.

Leslie groaned. “Why is that what you would abuse your power for? You know what? I will get a calzone, but it’s not because of your weird extortion thing; it’s only to prove to you that calzones are terrible.”

“Oh, this place has great calzones. You’re gonna love it.”

“I guarantee you I won’t.”

Soon enough, the waiter came around to take everyone’s orders. Leslie waited with dread as everyone else ordered pizzas and other non-awful foods. 

“I’ll have a calzone,” Ben casually said when the waiter got to him. After saying this, he turned to Leslie with evil glee dancing in his eyes.

“And you?” the waiter inquired.

Leslie scowled. “I’ll have… I’ll have a-” she gagged, then took a deep breath to steady herself. She needed to prove a point about calzones, and if that meant subjecting herself to eating one, that was a price she was willing to pay. She saw Ben snickering behind the waiter, which only made her more determined. “I will order a...” She trailed off. She just couldn’t do it.

“She’ll have a calzone,” Ben chimed. 

The waiter glanced at Leslie to confirm.

“Yep. One of those. Good old calzone,” Leslie said as she attempted to hide her disgust.

When the waiter walked away, Leslie noticed that everyone at the table was staring at her in terror. “What?” she asked.

“You’re getting a calzone?” Tom practically shouted. 

“Why would you do that to yourself?” April interrogated.

“Because Leslie just loves calzones. Right, Leslie?” Ben explained before looking at Leslie expectantly.

“No! I hate calzones! I stand by that. I’m just doing this to prove once and for all that calzones might as well be garbage bags made of flour.”

Everyone seemed to accept this answer because they all turned back to their prior conversations. Leslie looked up at Ben. “I hate you,” she growled.

“Do you though?” He mused, unphased.

Leslie closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths. “Fine. I don’t hate you; I hate the fact that I’m about to eat a dumpling the size of a catfish.”

//

The chatter at the table subsided as the food arrived. Leslie shuddered as the waiter made his way around the table. She looked away from the waiter and over to Ben, who was already looking at her with a slight smile.

“What?” She queried, not entirely realizing that she had caught him staring.

“I’m just really excited to see you fall in love with the majesty of calzones. It happens to us all, and it’s your turn.”

“I don’t use this word lightly, Ben, but I will say with confidence that I am not falling in love with shit,” she declared calmly.

Ben considered this for a moment. “We’ll see about that.”

Leslie was about to respond when the waiter arrived to hand her her calzone. She composed herself and thanked him before he finished his deliveries and walked away.

“Doesn’t that just look great?” Ben inquired sarcastically.

Leslie stared down her calzone. “You know what?”

“What?”

“This thing can be fixed.”

Ben frowned. “What does that mean?”

“It means that some jerk took a pizza and folded it into this thing. Who’s to say that I can’t unfold it?”

“I mean, you can, but I’m obviously not going to campaign for you to do that.”

“Good thing I don’t need your support on this then,” Leslie said as she began to pry at the seam of the calzone with a knife.

Ben watched with interest as Leslie carefully unfolded the calzone. After doing this, she spread out the filling and drizzled on the sauce. She looked up from her project triumphantly. “As you can see I’ve made this monstrosity into a pizza.”

“But now it’s a mess. You’ve ruined the compact and containable aspect of the calzone.”

“Stop being so pretentious. It’s a pizza taco.”

Ben chuckled. “Well now it’s a huge mess, so congratulations.”

“At least it’s not a calzone,” Leslie replied with a smile.

//

Around an hour after Leslie had ruined everything calzones stood for, Ben slowly spun in a swivel chair at the bar in The Snakehole Lounge, which the whole group had migrated to. Everyone was listening to Leslie give a short speech about the Harvest Festival and how it would continue to be a success for the rest of the week if they all worked hard. 

As often as people in the office complained or groaned about Leslie’s orders, she could certainly command their attention for a pep-talk. She ended her address with a toast before sitting down to talk to Ann. 

With Leslie talking to Ann, Ben wasn’t exactly sure what to do. Luckily, Tom solved that problem by dramatically hopping into Ben’s line of vision.

“Benadryl! What’re you up to??”

Ben made a face at Tom’s new nickname. “Nothing much.”

“Good. I have the idea of the century!”

“I’m sure you do.”

“Here it is: after this Harvest Festival is done, what are we gonna do with Li’l Sebastian?”

“Give him back to his owners?”

“Okay, but let’s forget about them. What if we gave him to some scientists, and they made him bigger? Big Li’l Sebastian!” Tom yelled with his arms outstretched.

“Isn’t that just a horse?”

“No, Ben. It’s Big Li’l Sebastian!” Tom yelled again as he started to sway a bit.

“How many drinks have you had, Tom?” 

“Only like two-and-a-half.”

“Isn’t that basically black-out drunk for you?”

“Nah. That’s four. I’m good.”

Andy ran over, carrying April on his back. “Hey, guys! We were gonna do some karaoke. Are you guys in?”

“Absolutely!” Tom slurred.

Andy cheered and ran up to the small stage, almost all of the group following him. Ben remained in his seat. 

Leslie gestured at Ben as she stepped onto the crowded stage. “Get up here!”

Ben yelled back from across the room, “I think I’m good. Call me when you guys do something by R.E.M.” Even from across the crowded club, Ben could see Leslie roll her eyes.

She turned her attention away from him and back to the group, so they could choose a song. 

Ben was happy just to watch the group as they bickered, but his attention was brought back to the bar when he heard a familiar voice. “Not that I care, but why aren’t you going up there with them?” said Ron, who was now the only other one at the bar.

“I just don’t know if I really belong up there,” Ben answered as he took a sip of his beer.

“How long is it going to take you to realize that you’re a part of this team, Ben?” 

“No, I get that.”

“Then why aren’t you joining them? Being part of the team means doing things with the team. Even if those things are karaoke at this club.”

“Why aren’t you doing karaoke with the team then? Does that mean you’re not part of the team?” Ben questioned.

“I don’t like to consider myself a part of anything, but more or less, I am part of this team. The reason I’m not up there is just that I’m not that kind of guy.”

“And I am?”

“The kind of guy who goes and does karaoke with his friends to have fun and make them happy? I don’t know you very well, and I don’t especially want to, but that seems exactly like the kind of guy you are.”

Ben raised his eyebrows in thought and decided that Ron was right. “Alright. I’ll go. Thanks, Ron,” he said as he stood up.

He walked over to the stage, where everyone was waiting for their part to come in on the song that they had finally chosen. When they spotted him, a cacophony of cheers arose. 

Karaoke with this many people was always odd, and this group took that to the next level. Donna sang operatically, Andy used his “rock star voice”, and April sat on his back silently as she tried not to smile. Everyone else pretty much just yelled, and Ben was glad to join them. 

//

After a truly excessive amount of terrible singing and a ride back to everyone’s cars at the Harvest Festival, almost everyone clambered out of Leslie’s and Donna’s cars. Leslie made sure everyone knew where they had parked as Donna drove off. 

After calling the very drunk Tom a taxi, Leslie found Ben as he was getting into his car. “Hey.”

“Hey.”

“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, you did a great job on this festival. We couldn’t have done it without you. Thank you so much.”

Ben smiled. “I don’t hear that very often.”

“People never thank you?”

“Most people’s behavior is similar to that of a certain someone’s behavior when I first got here. You know, a lot of calling me a jerk and whatnot.”

“Wow, you’re so subtle,” Leslie said as she rolled her eyes.

“Very subtle,” Ben agreed with a hint of a smile.

“Well, Ben, I’m very sorry for that. I rescind my insults. You’re not a jerk. You’re the opposite of one.”

Ben looked at Leslie thoughtfully, but he didn’t say anything.

“What?” Leslie asked.

“Uh, it’s just… a lot of people have said that, but when you say it I actually almost believe you.”

“Well, you should fully believe me because I am not a liar. Especially when it comes to who is and who isn’t a jerk.”

“Thank you, Leslie.”

“You’re welcome, Ben.” There was a short moment of silence before Leslie continued, “Anyway, I’ll see you tomorrow. Don’t be late.”

“When have I ever been late?” Ben pondered.

“I don’t think you have, but I’m just reminding you to be safe,” Leslie responded.

“Well consider myself reminded. See you tomorrow.”

As Leslie turned and began the walk to her car, she heard Ben’s car start up and pull out of the parking lot. Then, she waited with Tom for his taxi. When the parking lot was empty except for her, she finally walked to her car. Before getting in, she couldn’t help but stare at the dark silhouette of the Harvest Festival. A few lights illuminated the ferris wheel and roller coaster. 

Here were all her recent accomplishments laid out in front of her. She knew she wouldn’t have been able to do any of it on her own. As she gazed at the work of her and her friends, she realized something that she had realized several times and was sure to realize again: No one achieves anything alone.


End file.
